Heelwork

Heelwork
is a great foundation for agility. The dog learns to face in the
direction the handler is facing and learns to go forward with the handler.
It also teaches the dog some self control and is a great exercise for focus.
When doing rally, good heelwork is the cornerstone of many of the exercises
since you mostly need to move from one station to another with the dog at
heel in order to complete each of the exercises.

Jilly has done very little in the way of formal heelwork and the first
thing I've taught her is how to get into the right position. This
should be on my left side facing forwards and her attention should be
focused on me. I'm using treats to encourage her to get into the right
position and to reward her when she gets it right. To start with the
treats are both a lure and a reward.

Here's some little video clips of Jilly starting her first formal heelwork.

In the video you can see how slowly I'm taking it. I want
to set Jilly up for as much success as possible and marching off
down the length of the garden isn't an option. Here she's just
learning the right position and then taking a step or two forward.
Each time she gets it right she gets a bit of turkey!

This is enough for Jilly to think about. Later on we did a
little bit more heelwork and in the video below you can see how much
progress she's made already.

As you can see, Jilly had begun to understand what she needed to
do by the second
little training session. She was able to walk a two or three
paces in the right position and each time she was rewarded.
She didn't get any reward for jumping up or turning away and so it's
much better for to get it right if she can and then she gets the
turkey.

When she fully understands walking in a straight line to heel we
can introduce some turns.

At nine months old Jilly understands the heel position much better
but she is distracted when we're outside the garden. She needs
to learn to change pace and to run beside me without jumping up.
One way puppies are taught as a foundation for agility is to work in
circles. First the dog runs on the outside of the handler and
then on the inside. We need more practice at this but Jilly is
coming along. By the time she starts her agility classes she
should have a fairly good understanding of what's required.